What to do when your child won't play with toys
Author
Bryony Rust
Date Published
I meet children with the most fantastically varied interests. Their delight in details has taught me a lot about play and exploration. I always aim to follow a child’s lead within speech and language therapy sessions, to find the thing that inspires a child to communicate. Over time, I’ve learned that this often means abandoning my own plans and my shiny new toys in favour of the door jam, the lid of a cardboard box and oh so much more.
So, when parents ask me ‘What toys shall I buy to build attention’ my response is always ‘What is your child interested in?’ Because supporting attention, communication and interaction isn’t about buying a prescribed set of toys. More often, it’s about putting down the toys and paying attention to the details of what your marvellous unique kiddo wants to explore with you.
What surprising things does your child delight in exploring? For starters, there’s always the good ol’ cardboard box.
PS. I have put together a list of gift suggestions, if you’re looking for a few more ideas.
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This strategy is my number one go-to piece of advice and approach to my therapy sessions. It sounds incredibly simple, so much that we often dismiss it.
For young children, a big empty cardboard box is one of the best invitations to play. There's so many creative things we can do with a box and there's plenty of ways to squeeze in some language activities while we play.